In 2008 Google changed it’s Adwords trademark policy to allow the use of trademarks as keywords in the UK, US and Canada and from the 4th of June this year, this new change to the policy will expand to a total of 190 countries.

Previous to this, Google was a lot stricter on the issue and made it impossible for anyone to use trademarks as keywords in their Adwords PPC Campaigns, and this recent change of heart is having a dramatic effect on brands.

Due to the change in the rules regarding trademarks, some brands are now experiencing an increased level of competition, where they were not having to compete before and they are also seeing a large increase in cost per clicks on these keywords.

The change in cost-per-click bids will not be the only reason that brands’ marketing budgets will increase, as there will also be more money needed in order to manage these campaigns to make sure that they stay ahead of the competition.

Brands will also have to have a long hard look at their strategies too, as they will now have the option of bidding on their competitors keywords, which, if they choose to do so, will also add to an increase in media budget.

Prior to the changes to the trademark policy, Google has struggled to encourage it’s blue chip advertisers to increase their Adwords budgets. However due to this 180-degree change in the policy they are no longer given the choice and if they wish to rank high for these keywords they will have to increase their bids and therefore their ad spend.

However this could prove a risky move by Google and may result in them isolating and aggravating their customers, as they begin to question their trust in Google and may even see a decrease in return-on-investment for their PPC Campaigns and therefore make the concept of social media marketing a more attractive proposition.